Harry Potter IV - Spoilers welcome!

[Mark Chance]

Saw it with my son yesterday. It was better than the others, which means I was able to stay awake for the entire film. Otherwise, it was trite (verging on puerile), unevenly acted, and predictable (and, no, I've not read the book).

OTOH, my son enjoyed it immensely, so I guess it was worth the price of admission for that alone. I'm accustomed to my tastes differing from those of an 8-year-old.

 

[qstor]

I just talked to a buddy of mine who saw the movie last night, has read none of the books, and he thought it was the best of the lot so far.

My wife is into the books and I saw it with her yesterday. I had the same feeling. I like the scenes in the graveyard.

During the duel, I couldn't help but think what D&D spells Harry should have used
Like wall of Force, locate creature and passwall

Mike

 

[TanisFrey]

my gripes, movie by movie

HP-SS minor girpe action was played up over dialog

HP-COS Major gripe the falling out of the car (wrecked the paceing of the movie); minor action over dialog agin

HP-POA WTF??? the womping williow was next to the school is now hundrads of feet away; minor major over hall of costume espicaly the look of Prof. Flick. and action was favored over dialog once more

HP-GOF Thank goodness that did not change the placment or look of anything, still dont like the look of Prof. Flick. liked how they shorted the world cup and after math and the arivial of the other schools. why are the two school are totaly one sex or the other? and action was favored over dialog AND PACING. WTF??? PLOT HOLE INTRODUCED for the NEXT movie.

The dragon task was too long and could have been shortened to allow more normal pacing. And she should have other eggs to protect other than the golden egg.

AND WOULD hurt to add 10-30 Seconds of time to explaine Priori Incantatum and kill Barney Crunch, Jr?

I did very much enjoy the added scene of dance lessons and the slight change to the Bathroom scene.

 

[Mark Chance]

The whole evil scheme didn't make sense. The bad guys should've just bonked Harry on the head and kidnapped him. Then, right after slicing his arm, they should've put a bullet in his skull rather than placing on the ridiculously slow-moving dipping mechanism. The ending was weak. "Ultimate evil stalks the land, intent on destroying us all, especially you, Potter! Have a nice summer. Don't forget to write."

:\

 

[Desdichado]

I'm accustomed to my tastes differing from those of an 8-year-old.

After a few years of seeing your comments on movies, I'm accustomed to your tastes differing from the majority opinion here too.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

The whole evil scheme didn't make sense. The bad guys should've just bonked Harry on the head and kidnapped him. Then, right after slicing his arm, they should've put a bullet in his skull rather than placing on the ridiculously slow-moving dipping mechanism. The ending was weak. "Ultimate evil stalks the land, intent on destroying us all, especially you, Potter! Have a nice summer. Don't forget to write."

:\

So should Dumbledore and the "good guys" have sent Potter and crew off to fight Voldemort at thier advanced ages of 14? They don't want Potter fighting Voldemort or any of the adult and far more experienced Death Eaters if at all possible. One contant subplot of the series is that they are trying to shield Harry and protect him from Voldemort by hiding him and not telling him everything he wants to know, something that will come out even more next movie. Dumbledore would like the children's lives to go on as normal as possible while the adults work on trying to convince everyone that Voldemort is indeed back and organizing resistance to him. School is over, so you send them home to thier wizard parents to care for. What else did you expect them to do? The fallout of this is dealt with next movie though, as will the relationship between Voldemort and Potter. And you will find out why Potter keeps being sent to his horrible Dursley family in the summer.

And Wizards never use muggle weaponry such as Guns. Plus Vodemort wants to destroy Harry and do it methodicaly so he can gloat over Harry as he dies.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

Just curious, but has anyone seen that clip flying around the net of the actress who plays Fluer Delacuer.

Apparently she appeared in a french movie.....

I'll let you figure out for yourselves. Her names Clemence Poesy.

 

[orbitalfreak]

Just curious, but has anyone seen that clip flying around the net of the actress who plays Fluer Delacuer.

Apparently she appeared in a french movie.....

I'll let you figure out for yourselves. Her names Clemence Poesy.

Yes. Very not-grandma-safe material.

 

[Vocenoctum]

Just saw the movie tonight, it was okay, but sort of disappointing.

HP-GOF Thank goodness that did not change the placment or look of anything, still dont like the look of Prof. Flick.

The nazi gnome?

liked how they shorted the world cup and after math and the arivial of the other schools. why are the two school are totaly one sex or the other?

I hated their entrances, flipping and posing and... they had the feel of a traveling circus come to town.

The dragon task was too long and could have been shortened to allow more normal pacing. And she should have other eggs to protect other than the golden egg.

The mention of the dragon's all being female and nesting was cut. In the book, Harry has to lure the dragon away to swoop in and get it. In the movie, he basically just flee's.
How much time did Harry have to loop back and grab the egg, instead of flying away from it? They had to have him "defeat" the dragon, rather than just get the egg?

Also, the tournament is supposed to be watched, to insure SOME level of safety, but the dragon is flying around ON THE SCHOOL!

AND WOULD hurt to add 10-30 Seconds of time to explaine Priori Incantatum

IIRC, Harry tries a disarm spell, which Voldemort rebuffs with a spell of his own, before they lock wands on a subsequent spell... so the Priori Incantatum effect is meaningless in the movie, given that the two wands didn't lock the first time.

and kill Barney Crunch, Jr?

Why did they give him verataserum, to ask where the real Moody was? (and showing him at the bottom with a "yeah, I'm fine" was bleh) There wasn't a whole lot of plot exposition.

I did very much enjoy the added scene of dance lessons and the slight change to the Bathroom scene.

I enjoyed:
The graveyard scene: had a good eerie feeling to it, and was fun.
The underwater: though the changes were bad, having him attacked right after almost making it to the surface was eh.
Fred, George and Ginny: all fun in their ways.
The Unforgivable Curse Class: the dancing bug was fun, the change of mood when he makes to drown it was cool.
Giving Nevill more stuff to do was good also. I still think he should be fatter though, can't they make him chubbier?

Stuff I didn't like
Voldemort didn't look sinister and mysterious, he looked like an alien out of Star Trek. I did like his exit from the cauldron, but the figure himself was bleh. Plus, when he said "love", it just sounded wrong.

Moody: he was one of my favorites in the book, and in the movie he was lacking. The swigs from the bottle are polyjuice, but also because the real Moody is paranoid in extreme. In the movie, he looked like an alcoholic. That whole tongue thing? That was just dumb IMO. The repeated bludgeoning clues of "polyjuice potion in the pipes" and such were wierd. More time should have been spent endearing him to the audience as a mentor than leaving clues for his falseness. Also, Crouch Jr's hatred of "betrayer" Death Eaters never came up.

The start was way too fast. Dream was fine, but then BAM, World Cup, BAM World Cup Night, BAM! Hogwarts express.
Ron apologizing to Harry in the middle of the common room was just awkward, in a very odd choice of a scene to insert.


Changes from the book I'm mixed on;
No Elves/SPEW: I think the Crouch elf was needed, but the lack of plot exposition makes that meaningless I suppose.
Crouch Jr: his early appearance was a bit off setting. His later appearance in the books is more of a surprise, which is fine.
No Ron Jealousy: I didn't care much for this in the book, so didn't miss it in the movie.
Karkarov never really seemed like much of a red herring in the movie, but perhaps that's because I've read the book.